Skills for Life: Science and Technology in Everyday Life
Science and Technology in Everyday Life is a Pearson Skills for Life unit in which learners use everyday technology for personal tasks such as online forms, shopping and comparing deals, and consider the benefits, risks and legal, ethical and social issues of doing so. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2, assessed internally through a centre set assignment. Literacy sits in reading and following on-screen steps, entering details accurately, judging whether online and AI information is reliable, and describing and explaining benefits, risks and choices. Numeracy is light: comparing prices and keeping within a budget, mainly at Level 2.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3, moving from listing familiar technologies and taking part in a very simple activity with one, to identifying common technologies, their uses, benefits and risks and completing a basic personal task using technology. Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at Level 1 (describe) and one at Level 2 (explain) how technology supports everyday tasks, including risks and considerations and, at Level 2, how technology influences personal choices, plus using technology to complete personal tasks. Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Reading strategies
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Reading on-screen steps and entering details accurately
Entry 2 learners navigate a pre-prepared web page with prompts and step by step instructions, Entry 3 learners check the information they enter, and Level 1 learners check details and correct mistakes in forms and multi-step processes. Level 2 learners complete multi-step tasks and troubleshoot problems. This is required by the criteria, which ask learners to use technology to complete personal tasks.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils follow a printed set of steps to change a setting on a tablet and tick each step when done.
- Year 8
- Pupils read the instructions on a practice online form, complete it, then swap with a partner who checks for spelling and missing details.
- Year 9
- Pupils work through an unfamiliar sign up process, reading each screen closely, and write a short help sheet on the steps that caused problems.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 23, Assessment criteria, all levels, page 107; Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 to Level 2, pages 108 to 109
“They demonstrate appropriate digital behaviour and check details and correct mistakes.”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of strategies for finding information, e.g. skimming for gist, scanning for detail.
I can read closely, identifying and noting features of texts, e.g. introduction, sequence, illustrations, formality, key vocabulary.
Progression step 4
I can read, with concentration, printed and digital texts that are new to me and update, broaden and deepen my understanding of information, ideas and issues.
I can use my knowledge of how different texts are structured, organised and linked to support my understanding of a topic, e.g. use of hyperlinks in a printed/digital text to extend my research and understanding.
Progression step 5
I can read and analyse a range of unseen, printed and digital texts with concentration and independence.
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Judging the reliability of online and AI information
Entry 2 learners recognise trusted websites and that technology may not always be correct, Entry 3 learners understand that AI generated information should be checked, Level 1 learners recognise the need to check reliability and fairness, and Level 2 learners discuss bias, accuracy and data privacy in AI. This is set out in the assessment guidance at every level.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read three short product reviews and decide which are facts and which are opinions.
- Year 8
- Pupils read an AI tool's answer to a question and check it against a reliable website, underlining anything that does not match.
- Year 9
- Pupils evaluate two AI generated summaries of the same news story for accuracy and bias, quoting the evidence for their judgement.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 23, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 to Level 2, pages 108 to 109
“recognise the need to check reliability and fairness”
Progression step 3
I can use inference and deduction to understand the text, and can consider the reliability of what I read.
I can distinguish between facts, theories and opinions.
Progression step 4
I can use inference and deduction to understand more complex texts, and can consider the reliability and impact of what I read.
I can evaluate the usefulness and reliability of texts.
Progression step 5
I can use printed and digital texts to search selectively, assessing the reliability, significance and accuracy of what I find.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfL 23 and carries 10 guided learning hours: "SfL 23 Science and technology in everyday life 10" (Unit summary, page 5). The WJEC unit of the same name is 20 guided learning hours.
- A unit counts once only: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Pearson's mapping limits the numeracy to "Entering information accurately; comparing prices/features; no explicit calculation focus" (Annexe C, page 164).
- Entry 1 learners may work from "pictures, symbols, and repetition" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 108), so the literacy demand rises steeply from Entry 1 to Level 2.
- Evidence is the centre's choice: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (page 108), so explanations can be spoken, recorded or written.
- AI may be used, but "the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 111).
Links with other qualifications
Reading on-screen instructions and judging the reliability of online and AI information supports the non-fiction reading in GCSE English Language and Literature and GCSE Cymraeg Language and Literature, and explaining legal and ethical issues of technology is shared with GCSE Digital Technology and GCSE Computer Science. Comparing prices and choosing within a budget links to the financial literacy in GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy, and the Financial Literacy unit carries fuller numeracy. Compared with the WJEC Science and Technology in Everyday Life unit, the Pearson unit is half the size (10 rather than 20 guided learning hours), and its Level 2 guidance makes price comparison within a budget part of the assessed task, where in the WJEC unit money appears only as examples.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 23: Science and technology in everyday life.